Monthly Archives: July 2013

30 BC – Battle of Alexandria: Mark Antony achieves a minor victory over Octavian’s forces, but most of his army subsequently deserts, leading to his suicide.

781 – The oldest recorded eruption of Mt. Fuji (Traditional Japanese date: July 6, 781).

904 – Thessalonica falls to the Arabs, who destroy the city.

1423 – Hundred Years’ War: Battle of Cravant – The French army is defeated at Cravant on the banks of the river Yonne.

1451 – Jacques Coeur is arrested by order of Charles VII of France.

1498 – On his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to discover the island of Trinidad.

1588 – The Spanish Armada is spotted off the coast of England.

1655 – Russo-Polish War (1654-1667): Russian army enters the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Vilnius, which it holds for six years.

1658 – Aurangzeb is proclaimed Moghul emperor of India.

1667 – Second Anglo-Dutch War: Treaty of Breda ends the conflict.

1703 – Daniel Defoe is placed in a pillory for the crime of seditious libel after publishing a politically satirical pamphlet, but is pelted with flowers.

1741 – Charles Albert of Bavaria invades Upper Austria and Bohemia.

1777 – The United States Congress passes a resolution that the services of Marquis de Lafayette “be accepted, and that, in consideration of his zeal, illustrious family and connexions, he have the rank and commission of major-general of the United States.”

1790 – First U.S. patent is issued; granted to inventor Samuel Hopkins for a potash process.

1856 – Christchurch, New Zealand is chartered as a city.

1865 – The first narrow gauge mainline railway in the world opens at Grandchester, Australia.

1913 – The Balkan States signs an armistice at Bucarest.

1917 – The Third Battle of Ypres starts in Flanders.

1919 – German national assembly adopts the Weimar constitution (to come into force on August 14)

1930 – The radio mystery program The Shadow is aired for the first time.

1932 – The NSDAP wins more than 38% of the vote in German elections.

1936 – The International Olympic Committee announces that the 1940 Summer Olympics will to be held in Tokyo. However, the games are given back to the IOC after the Second Sino-Japanese War breaks out, and are eventually cancelled altogether because of World War II.

1938 – Bulgaria signs a non-aggression pact with Greece and other states of Balkan Antanta (Turkey, Romania, Yugoslavia)

1941 – Holocaust: Under instructions from Adolf Hitler, Nazi official Hermann Göring, orders SS General Reinhard Heydrich to “submit to me as soon as possible a general plan of the administrative material and financial measures necessary for carrying out the desired final solution of the Jewish question.”

1693 – War of the Grand Alliance: Battle of Landen – France wins a Pyrrhic victory over Allied forces in the Netherlands.

1793 – John Graves Simcoe decides to build a fort and settlement at Toronto, having sailed into the bay there.

1830 – Abdication of Charles X of France.

1836 – Inauguration of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

1847 – Cumberland School of Law founded in Lebanon, Tennessee, USA. At the end of 1847 only 15 law schools exist in the United States.

1848 – Irish Potato Famine: Tipperary Revolt – In Tipperary, an unsuccessful nationalist revolt against British rule is put down by police.

1851 – Annibale de Gasparis discovers asteroid 15 Eunomia.

1858 – United States and Japan sign the Harris Treaty.

1864 – American Civil War: Confederate spy Belle Boyd is arrested by Union troops and detained at the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, DC.

1899 – The First Hague Convention is signed.

1900 – In Italy, King Umberto I of Italy is assassinated by Italian-born anarchist Gaetano Bresci.

1907 – Sir Robert Baden-Powell sets up the Brownsea Island Scout camp in Poole Harbour on the south coast of England. The camp ran from August 1-9, 1907, and is regarded as the founding of the Scouting movement.

1920 – Construction of the Link River Dam begins as part of the Klamath Reclamation Project.

1921 – Adolf Hitler becomes leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party.

1932 – Great Depression: In Washington, DC, U.S. troops disperse the last of the “Bonus Army” of World War I veterans.

1937 – Tongzhou Incident

1945 – The BBC Light Programme radio station was launched for mainstream light entertainment and music.

1948 – Olympic Games: The Games of the XIV Olympiad – After a hiatus of 12 years caused by World War II, the first Summer Olympics to be held since the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, opened in London.

1957 – The International Atomic Energy Agency is established.

1958 – The U.S. Congress formally creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

1959 – First Congressional elections in Hawaii as a state of the Union.

1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Ezra Church – The battle begins on this day when Confederate troops make a third unsuccessful attempt to drive Union forces from Atlanta, Georgia.

1896 – The City of Miami is incorporated.

1914 – World War I begins: Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia after it failed to meet the conditions of an ultimatum it set on July 23 following the killing of Archduke Francis Ferdinand by a Serbian assassin. This event leads to the outbreak of war.

1932 – US President Herbert Hoover orders the United States Army to forcibly evict the “Bonus Army” of World War I veterans gathered in Washington, DC.

1933 – The diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Spain were established.

1942 – World War II: USSR leader Joseph Stalin issues Order No. 227 in response to alarming German advances into Russia. Under the order all those who retreat or otherwise leave their positions without orders to do so will be immediately killed.

1943 – World War II: Operation Gomorrah – The British bomb Hamburg causing a firestorm that kills 42,000 German civilians.

1945 – A US Army B-25 bomber accidentally crashes into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building killing 14 injuring 26.

1955 – The Union Mundial pro Interlingua is founded at the first Interlingua congress in Tours, France.

1921 – Researchers at the University of Toronto led by biochemist Frederick Banting announce the discovery of the hormone insulin.

1928 – Tich Freeman becomes only bowler ever to take 200 first-class wickets before end of July.

1940 – The animated short “A Wild Hare” is released, introducing the character of Bugs Bunny.

1941 – Japanese troops occupy French Indo-China.

1949 – Initial flight of the de Havilland Comet, the first jet-powered airliner.

1953 – Korean War ends: The United States, People’s Republic of China, and North Korea, sign an armistice agreement. Syngman Rhee, president of South Korea, refuses to sign but pledges to observe the armistice.

1955 – The Allied occupation of Austria stemming from World War II, ends (started on May 9, 1945).

1964 – Vietnam War: 5,000 more American military advisers are sent to South Vietnam bringing the total number of United States forces in Vietnam to 21,000.

1972 – The F-15 Eagle flies for the first time.

1974 – Watergate Scandal: The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee votes 27 to 11 to recommend the first article of impeachment against President Richard Nixon: obstruction of justice.

1976 – Former Japanese prime minister Kakuei Tanaka is arrested on suspicion of violating foreign exchange and foreign trade laws in connection with the Lockheed scandal.

1981 – British television: On Coronation Street, Ken Barlow marries Deirdre Langton, which proves to be a national event, with massive viewer numbers earned for the show.

1983 – Black July: 18 Tamil political prisoners at the Welikada high security prison in Colombo were massacred by the Sinhalese prisoners, the second such massacre in two days.

1990 – The Supreme Soviet of the Belarusian Soviet Republic declares independence of Belarus from the Soviet Union. Until 1996, the day was celebrated as the Independence Day of Belarus; after a referendum held that year the celebration of independence was transferred to June 3.

1990 – The Jamaat al Muslimeen stage a coup d’état attempt in Trinidad and Tobago, occupying Parliament and the studios of Trinidad and Tobago Television, holding Prime Minister A. N. R. Robinson and most of his Cabinet, as well as the staff at the television station hostage for 6 days.

1995 – In Washington, DC, the Korean War Veterans Memorial is dedicated.

2002 – Ukraine airshow disaster: A Sukhoi Su-27 fighter crashes during an air show at Lviv, Ukraine killing 85 and injuring more than 100 others, the largest air show disaster in history.

2005 – STS-114: NASA grounds the Space shuttle, pending an investigation of the external tank’s continued foam-shedding problem. During ascent, the external tank of the Space Shuttle Discovery sheds a piece of foam slightly smaller than the piece that caused the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster; this foam does not strike the spacecraft.

2006 – The Federal Republic of Germany is deemed guilty in the loss of Bashkirian 2937 and DHL Flight 611, because it is illegal to outsource flight surveillance.

2007 – Phoenix News Helicopter Collision: News helicopters from Phoenix, Arizona television stations KNXV and KTVK collide over Steele Indian School Park in central Phoenix while covering a police chase; there were no survivors. This was the first known incidence of two news helicopters colliding in mid-air, and the worst civil aviation incident in Phoenix history.

1878 – In California, the poet and American West outlaw calling himself “Black Bart” makes his last clean getaway when he steals a safe box from a Wells Fargo stagecoach. The empty box will be found later with a taunting poem inside.

1882 – Premiere of Richard Wagner’s Parsifal at Bayreuth.

1891 – France annexes Tahiti.

1908 – United States Attorney General Charles Joseph Bonaparte issues an order to immediately staff the Office of the Chief Examiner (later renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation).

1914 – Serbia and Bulgaria interrupt diplomatic relationship.

1934 – Assassination of Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss.

1936 – The Axis Powers decide to intervene in the Spanish Civil War.

1937 – End of the Battle of Brunete in the Spanish Civil War.

1941 – World War II: In response to the Japanese occupation of French Indo-China, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the seizure of all Japanese assets in the United States.

1944 – World War II: Soviet army enters Lviv, major city of western Ukraine, liberating it from the Nazis. Only 300 Jewish survivors left, out of 160,000 Jews in Lviv prior to Nazi occupation.

1944 – The first German V-2 rocket hits Great Britain.

1945 – The Labour Party wins the United Kingdom general election of July 5 by a landslide, removing Winston Churchill from power.

1945 – The Potsdam Declaration is signed in Potsdam, Germany.

1945 – The US Navy cruiser Indianapolis arrives at Tinian with the warhead for the Hiroshima atomic bomb.

1947 – Cold War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act into United States law creating the Central Intelligence Agency, Department of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the National Security Council.

1948 – U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs Executive Order 9981 desegregating the military of the United States.

1963 – The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development votes to admit Japan.

1965 – Full independence was granted to the Maldives.

1966 – Lord Gardiner issues the Practice Statement in the House of Lords stating that the House is not bound to follow its own previous precedent.

1968 – Vietnam War: South Vietnamese opposition leader Truong Dinh Dzu is sentenced to five years hard labor for advocating the formation of a coalition government as a way to move toward an end to the war.

1971 – Apollo Program: Apollo 15 Mission – Launch of Apollo 15.

1974 – Greek Prime Minister Constantin Caramanlis forms the country’s first civil government after seven years of military rule.

1975 – Formation of a military triumvirate in Portugal.

1977 – The National Assembly of Quebec imposes the use of French as the official language of the provincial government.

1989 – A federal grand jury indicts Cornell University student Robert T. Morris, Jr. for releasing the Morris worm, thus becoming the first person to be prosecuted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

864 – Edict of Pistres of Charles the Bald orders defensive measures against the Vikings.

1139 – Battle of Ourique: The independence of Portugal from the Kingdom of León and Castile declared after the battle against the Almoravids.

1261 – The city of Constantinople is recaptured by Nicaean forces under the command of Michael VIII Palaeologus, thus re-establishing the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantines also succeed in capturing Thessalonica and the rest of the Latin Empire.

1536 – Sebastián de Belalcázar on his search of El Dorado found the City of Santiago de Cali.

1547 – Henry II (France) crowned.

1567 – Don Diego de Losada founds the city of Santiago de Leon de Caracas, modern-day Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela.

Thousands of Acadians are sent to the British Colonies in America, France and England. Some later moved to Louisiana, while others later resettled in New Brunswick.

1758 – Seven Years’ War: The island battery at Fortress Louisbourg in Nova Scotia is silenced and all French warships are destroyed or taken.

1759 – French and Indian War: In Western New York, British forces capture Fort Niagara from French, who subsequently abandon Fort Rouillé.

1792 – The Brunswick Manifesto is issued to the population of Paris promising vengeance if the French Royal Family is harmed.

1795 – The first stone of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct is laid.

1797 – Horatio Nelson loses more than 300 men and his right arm during the failed conquest attempt of Tenerife Island (Spain).

1799 – At Aboukir in Egypt, Napoleon I of France defeats 10,000 Ottomans under Mustafa Pasha.

1814 – War of 1812: Battle of Lundy’s Lane – Reinforcements arrive near Niagara Falls for General Riall’s British and Canadian forces and a bloody, all-night battle with Jacob Brown’s Americans commences; Americans retreat to Fort Erie.

1824 – Costa Rica annexes Guanacaste from Nicaragua.

1837 – The first commercial use of an electric telegraph was successfully demonstrated by William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone on 25 July 1837 between Euston and Camden Town in London.

1853 – Joaquin Murietta, famous Californio bandit known as “Robin Hood of El Dorado,” is killed.

1861 – American Civil War: The Crittenden-Johnson Resolution is passed by the U.S. Congress stating that the war is being fought to preserve the Union and not to end slavery.

1866 – The U.S. Congress passes legislation authorizing the rank of General of the Army (now called “5-star general”). Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant becomes the first to have this rank.

1868 – Wyoming becomes a United States territory.

1869 – The Japanese daimyo begin returning their land holdings to the emperor as part of the Meiji Restoration reforms. (Traditional Japanese Date: June 17, 1869).

1894 – The First Sino-Japanese War begins when the Japanese fire upon a Chinese warship.

1897 – Writer Jack London sails to join the Klondike Gold Rush where he will write his first successful stories.

1898 – The United States invasion of Puerto Rico begins with U.S. troops landing at harbor of Guánica, Puerto Rico.

1907 – Korea becomes a protectorate of Japan.

1908 – Ajinomoto is founded. Kikunae Ikeda of the Tokyo Imperial University discovers a key ingredient in Konbu soup stock is monosodium glutamate (MSG), and patents a process for manufacturing it.

1909 – Louis Blériot makes the first flight across the English Channel in a heavier-than-air machine (Calais to Dover) in 37 minutes.

1917 – Sir Thomas Whyte introduces the first income tax in Canada as a “temporary” measure (lowest bracket is 4% and highest is 25%).

1940 – General Guisan orders the Swiss Army to resist German invasion and make surrender illegal.

1943 – World War II: Benito Mussolini is forced out of office by his own Italian Grand Council and is replaced by Pietro Badoglio.

1944 – World War II: Operation Spring – One of the bloodiest days for Canadians during the war: 18,444 casualties, including 5,021 killed.

1946 – Operation Crossroads: An atomic bomb is detonated underwater in the lagoon of Bikini atoll.

1946 – At Club 500 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis stage their first show as a comedy team.

1952 – The U.S. non-incorporated colonial territory of Puerto Rico adopts a “constitution” of local-limited powers, approved by the United States Congress in contravention of then-current International Law.

1956 – 45 miles south of Nantucket Island, the Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria collides with the MS Stockholm in heavy fog and sinks the next day, killing 51.

1958 – The African Regroupment Party (PRA) holds its first congress in Cotonou.

1961 – John F. Kennedy speech emphasizes any attack on Berlin is an attack on NATO.

1969 – Vietnam War: US President Richard Nixon declares the Nixon Doctrine, stating the United States now expects its Asian allies to take care of their own military defense. This was the start of the “Vietnamization” of the war.

1973 – Soviet Mars 5 space probe launched.

1978 – The Cerro Maravilla Incident occurs.

1983 – Black July: 37 Tamil political prisoners at the Welikada high security prison in Colombo were massacred by the fellow Sinhalese prisoners.